Effect of idleness on youth

By Muhammad A. Dabo

Surely idleness on the part of our youths is the source of the major problems facing the society today and this demands urgent and serious attention from all stakeholders, particularly governments at all levels. Idleness among youths is not only a security problem but also a political, social, economical as well as spiritual problem. And this is the generation that is supposed to be productive and that will impact positively to our economic growth as well as national development.

This is because the youtt are a working generation; it is a generation of power, capability, skillfulness and experience. The youth, socially and economically thought or is thinking on how to improve his condition especially the graduates and the able-bodies ones some of these youths are creative, intelligent, able and skilled yet they are suffering from idleness due to their government’s and/or families’ slackness and carelessness. The graduates among this teaming youth spend the most important part of their life in schools or on the streets.

Statistics show that the youth number millions in populations and a great number of them are jobless. Meanwhile despite suffering from poverty, deprivation, needs, bad condition of health or lateness in marriage and their inability to sustain their families, another scientific statistic shows that idleness has its own bad effect on their spirit due to the effect it has on the body’s health. A greater number of thejobless that enforce idleness on the youth showed signs of lost spiritual esteem, frustration, feelings and feeling inferior to others.

The statistics also show that youth have been overpowered by weariness and are also deprived intellectually and bodily. Idleness which obstructed the spiritual growths of the youths is also responsible for compelling youth to commit suicide which sometimes forced them to lake away their own lives as a result of trying to escape debts.

It has been found that 69% of those committing suicide are jobless ones. And the increase in percentage of crimes such as manslaughter, robbery, kidnapping, violence and aggression as well as political thuggery increase in the ranks of jobless persons as a result of spiritual tension and strain rising from frustrations.

Idleness is the fundamental cause of emigration thereby leaving the family and the community in the lurch. This problem between the jobless people is poverty and lack of life’s sustenance. In fact, idleness has crippled the capability and experience of youth who have no means to survive; their capability will be forced to turn into a disaster that will cause problems not only for them but to the community at large.

Not only that, idleness has become a major complication and may even pull down governments due to demonstrations and rebellion against the rulers, even as this has led to dethronement in some countries. The rulers and financial and political administrators in those countries were accused by the jobless as responsible for their idleness and unemployment, thereby leading to uprisings that unseat the governments of the day.

The problem of idleness and poverty is well treated by Islamic religion spiritually as well as materialistically: the Holy Prophet Muhammed (S.A.W) is reported to have said that: “A soul (spirit) becomes steady when it attains its power” and Imam Ja’afar Al-Sadiq said: “A soul defiles its owner if it does not have what it needs to stand on, but if it gains, its power becomes steady”.

Scientific analysis confirms this in the relationship between the spiritual side of man and material sufficiency and its effect, “pari-pasu”: steady and spiritual calmness and that lacking and poverty cause’s anxiety, grief and unsteadiness and health problems like hypertension, digestive tract disease, bodily pain, etc.

It is this view of poverty, insufficiency and deprivation mainly caused by idleness that Islam calls on people to work and discourages them from idleness and laziness it also necessitates work in order to sustain life with necessary needs for himself and those under his care.

To control idleness, Islam calls for the learning of professions like business transactions, tailoring, farming, mechanical works and others, it is related in a prophetic tradition that: “Allah loves an honest professional”. The Holy Qu’ran calls on people to work and seek wealth, thus it says “therefore go about in the spacious tracts thereof and eat of his sustenance, and to him are the return… Holy Qu’ran (Dominion 67: 15) “But when prayer is over, then disperse abroad in the land and seek of Allah’s grace…” Holy Qu’ran (Friday 62: 10). And prophet Muhammed (S.A.W) regards work as Jihad in Allah’s cause. He is reported to have said: “A hard worker for sustaining his family’s needs is like a Mijahid (Islamic warrior) in Allah’s cause”.

Indeed, the prophet, the Holy Imams and the pious servants have manifested these principles practically, because they used to raised animals, practice farming, transactions, tailoring, carpentry and other legal business transactions. These kinds of work had been practiced by prophets, messengers, ministers of state as well as pious servants. And this is the scientific solution to the problems of idleness.

All these works give awareness to the youth vis-a-vis the importance of work and the danger of idleness, it discourages idleness and laziness. Work earns respect, personal honour and material capabilities to the worker.

Idleness is a serious challenge to our society today. It seems to be the root of most criminal activities. Therefore, government should raise to it feet to address unemployment.

Well meaning members of the society too have a role to play in this direction. They can establish at least small scale industries that could provide job to a considerable number of youths in their own localities to stem down the rate of the jobless.

These well to do can equally provide that are soft loans for the youths to start farming, trading, koala, fishing and a host of other pity business or services such as shoe making, carpentry, blacksmithing.

Women could also be given incentives such as soft loan to start frying Ankara and sell of plantain to earn a living otherwise the rate of armed robbers, prostitutes, fraudsters, dupes, hired killers and pipe vandals would uncontrollably increase to an alarming propos ion that would compel the leaders to sleep with one eye open.The youth, on their part, should despite all odd, not get discouraged, they should embrace self reliance for they could get to the Promised Land one day.

Muhammad is a student of mass communication of Taraba State University, Jalingo.